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Governor Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia State has denied supporting Bola Tinubu, the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for the 25 February election.
He was reacting to a remark by the Chief Whip of the Nigerian Senate, Orji Uzor Kalu, that he was supporting Mr Tinubu.
Mr Ikpeazu dismissed the remark as “mere speculations and wishful pondering”.
The governor, who spoke to reporters on Tuesday whereas inspecting a highway building venture in Aba, mentioned “no member of G5 can railroad one other member into supporting anybody in opposition to his will as advised by Senator Kalu”.
Senator Kalu, in an interview with Channels TV on Monday, mentioned: “Tinubu is properly preferred by the north and is from the South-west and goes to get a (sizeable) vote in Imo, Ebonyi, Abia, Anambra and Enugu. And he’s going to have the help of Governor Wike of Rivers State, so we’re on observe.
“My governor right here, Okezie Ikpeazu, can even help Tinubu. My senatorial district goes to present Tinubu the vote, the puncher to present the 34, 35 per cent to be on the poll,” he mentioned.
Governor Ikpeazu mentioned Senator Kalu’s assertion was “the standard political hypothesis related to the (election) season”.
In an earlier assertion, the Director of Strategic Engagement, Abia State Peoples Democratic Celebration (PDP) Marketing campaign Council, John Kalu, mentioned there was no fact in Senator Kalu’s assertion.
He mentioned there have been related mischievous speculations round Mr Ikpeazu within the run as much as the 2019 common elections due to the governor’s lodging of various political opinions and orientations.
“Governor Ikpeazu is a democrat and at the same time as he frowns at some selections of his social gathering, the PDP, he stays a dedicated member of the PDP household.
“Ikpeazu is in contact with Abians and won’t derail from the choice of a majority of his individuals which doesn’t presently incline in direction of APC or its presidential candidate, Senator Bola Tinubu,” Mr Kalu, the PDP chieftain, mentioned, including that the APC in Abia South District had collapsed its constructions into the PDP through the social gathering (PDP) rally at Ahiaba, Obingwa Native Authorities Space.
“For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Ikpeazu has not endorsed Tinubu and won’t endorse him as a result of he’s a pacesetter that’s guided by the emotions of his individuals.
“PDP stays formidable and all our candidates within the forthcoming elections maintain very robust prospects of profitable in Abia”, he mentioned.
PREMIUM TIMES requested Mr Kalu, the PDP chieftain, if Mr Ikpeazu would help the Labour Celebration (LP) presidential candidate, Peter Obi, within the election.
ALSO READ: Ikpeazu’s former aide wins recent PDP governorship main in Abia
“Governor Ikpeazu is a PDP member, and that’s the most I can say to you right now,” he responded.
Backstory
The G5 (a gaggle of 5 PDP governors) was shaped shortly after Nigeria’s former Vice President Atiku Abubakar defeated Governor Nyesom Wike and 11 others within the Might 2022 main to emerge because the PDP presidential candidate.
The group believes the subsequent Nigerian president ought to return from the south, because the present President Muhammadu Buhari is from the north.
Apart from, the G5 had additionally campaigned unsuccessfully to have a southerner exchange the PDP Nationwide Chairman, Iyorchia Ayu, in an effort to obtain a “regional stability” since each Atiku and Ayu are from the north.
Mr Wike, who leads the G5, appeared to have sealed a political cope with the APC candidate, Mr Tinubu, and had concluded it was unattainable for him and the group to have any extra peace negotiation with Atiku.
Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State, who’s one other member of the G5, has brazenly endorsed Mr Obi, saying the LP candidate is God’s alternative for Nigeria.
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